Saturday, May 8, 2010

Sometimes movies and the fantasy genre seems like a wasteland. For every standout there several duds. The same for mages, sorcerers, and wizards. These are my five favorites.

#5 Michael Gambon as Albrus Dumbledore(Honorable Mention to Richard Harris)As headmaster of Hogwarts, He molded several generations of Wizards including the most famous Harry Potter. J.K. Rowlings writes a convincing character that is brought to life by Richard Harris followed by Michael Gambon.

#4 Ralph Richardson as Ulrich of CraggenmoorAiling Ulrich tricks his apprentice into transporting him to Urland for the final showdown with the dragon Vermithrax Pejorative. Craggenmoor is only exceeded by Hogwarts as a cool place for a wizard to live.

#3 Bruce Spencer as Zeddicus Zu'l ZoranderThe newest entry in the bunch. Legend of the Seeker may be a series that just OK but the actors really give it there all and Bruce Spencer as Zed tops them all. Unlike the other four wizards Zeddicus comes off more human. He definitely got the "I know the secrets, you don't" vibe but he also knows when to take a break and just be a person.

#2 Ian McKellan as Gandalf the Grey/WhiteIan McKellan does a standout job as Tolkien's Gandalf the Grey. Buoyed by excellent directing, a good script,and a standout cast for many he THE wizard.

#1 Nicol Williamson as MerlinDespite Ian McKellan acting and the quality of the film version of the Lord of the Rings, the best wizard of all time for me is Williamson's Merlin. Excalibur is a great film and the cast is as well. But is it is Williamson's Merlin that steals the show. Probably helped that Nicol Williamson and Helen Mirren disliked each other.

You know, I'm not sure I've ever seen a wizard in a film that quite worked for me. Probably it's because I have strange standards when it comes to these things, but, even so, I have a hard time naming one that sticks with me as exemplifying the archetype as I imagine it.

Bat in the Attic Games

How to make a Sandbox

The Old School Renaissance

To me the Old School Renaissance is not about playing a particular set of rules in a particular way, the dungeon crawl. It is about going back to the roots of our hobby and seeing what we could do differently. What avenues were not explored because of the commercial and personal interests of the game designers of the time.

What are RPGs?

A game where the players play individual characters interacting with a setting with their actions adjudicated by a human referee.

Rules are an aide to help the referee adjudicate actions and to help the players interact with the setting.

Dice are used to inject uncertainty which make a tabletop RPG campaign more interesting than "Let's Pretend".

The only thing a player needs to do to roleplay a character is to act if he or she was really there in the setting in that situation.